KOKOMO, Ind. – #3 Rose-Hulman opened the HCAC Tournament with a convincing 15-9 victory over the #6 Franklin Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies opened the game on the best possible note as Jaxon Henke hit a solo home run during the first at bat of the day.
Jackson Summers also recorded a hit during the Fightin' Engineers' first at bat with a single to center field. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Issei Takahashi, where he proceeded to steal third. Franklin's throw to third was overthrown, which led to a Summers run, tying the game at 1-1.
Noah Rasmussen recorded the first hit of the second inning as he cracked the first pitch to right-center field for a double.
Michael Hines and
Sam Erickson would load the bases following back-to-back walks, before Summers hit a two RBI double down the right field line, which put Rose-Hulman up 3-1.
Erickson would follow that up by scoring on a wild pitch, and
Issei Takahashi would add an RBI single to center field. The Fightin' Engineers would load the bases once again as
Mason Rasmussen recorded a single out to right field. With two outs,
Jackson Harms launched a three-RBI triple to deep center field, where he beat out the throw as he slid into third.
Rose-Hulman's dominance continued as N. Rasmussen brought Harms home with an RBI single down the left field line, stretching the lead to 9-1. Following a pair of walks, Summers recorded a two-RBI single to deep left center field to cap off a ten-run inning. The Fightin' Engineers have now scored ten runs in an inning twice this season, previously achieving the feat in the fourth inning of their 23-2 victory over Hanover.
With Rose-Hulman in the lead by a score of 11-1, Josh Girvan hit a single for Franklin, and he scored on an RBI single from Drew Helton in the third.
Matthew Furtado led off the bottom of the fourth by being walked, and he advanced to second on a single to right field from Hines. Erickson would then lay down a perfect bunt as the Fightin' Engineers put three runners on. Furtado scored on the following at bat, which gave Rose-Hulman a 12-2 lead.
Camden Judson recorded a strikeout atop the fifth inning, giving him a total of four strikeouts in 4.1 innings of action.
Franklin put two runners on shortly thereafter, and Helton would hit a two-RBI double down the right field line. He would later score on a groundout to the shortstop, where Franklin was able to cut the lead to 12-5.
The Grizzlies loaded the bases in the top of the seventh with a pair of walks and a double from Davis Wagner. They would score back-to-back runs on a sacrifice fly and a ground out, where they continued to chip away at Rose-Hulman's lead, making it a 12-7 game.
Jack Reeves struck out the first batter he faced at the start of the eighth inning. With two runners on, Reeves would close out the inning by striking out consecutive batters who both went down swinging.
M. Rasmussen singled to right center field to open the bottom of the eighth, and he scored on an RBI double to right center field from Harms. With two outs, Hines smacked the first pitch of his at bat over the right field wall for a two-RBI homer that extended Rose-Hulman's lead to 15-7.
The Grizzlies were able to add two runs in the top of the ninth, but it was too little too late as the Fightin' Engineers recorded a 15-9 victory in the opening game of the HCAC Tournament.
Jackson Summers finished the game hitting 4-5 with one double, two runs, and four RBIs.
Jackson Harms added two hits and two runs in five at bats. He matched Summers with a team-high four RBIs while recording a double and a triple.
Michael Hines hit 2-3 with two RBIs, one home run, and a team-high three runs.
With the victory, the Fightin' Engineers will face #2-Transylvania later today, Thursday, May 7, at approximately 7:45 PM.
